1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to chip feeders, and more particularly to a chip feeder that is used in a process of manufacturing an electronic component such as a chip monolithic ceramic capacitor or a chip inductor or the like.
2. Description of the Related Art
An alignment apparatus (a vibrating parts aligner) that will be described below has been proposed as an example of an alignment apparatus that is used for aligning chips such as electronic components or electronic component elements that are formed in a process of manufacturing such electronic components (see Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 8-11808, for example).
The alignment apparatus (the vibrating parts aligner) includes (a) an alignment pallet in which a plurality of component accommodating holes that are to be fed with components are formed, (b) component collection pallets that cause a desired component to slide down onto the alignment pallet and collect a desired component, (c) a vibration table that supports the alignment pallet and the component collection pallets, (d) a vibration device that is used for applying a reciprocating vibration along a surface of the vibration table to the vibration table, (e) an oscillation shaft that is fixed to the vibration table and that functions as a rotary shaft that causes the table to rotate in such a manner that the surface of the table is inclined at a predetermined angle, (f) an oscillation driving source that is used for driving the oscillation shaft so as to rotate, (g) an angle detection unit that detects the angle at which the vibration table oscillates as a result of a rotation of the oscillation shaft, and (h) a control unit that controls the operations of the oscillation driving source and the vibration device on the basis of a value that is detected by the angle detection unit. The front surface of the vibration table, which is fixed to the oscillation shaft, can be made to stand upright or can be reversed. The vibrating parts aligner further includes a component holding device that holds the components that have been aligned and accommodated in the component accommodating holes of the alignment pallet both when the vibration table is made to stand upright and when the vibration table is reversed. One of the component collection pallets includes a roof that has a substantially inverted U-shaped cross section and in which a component, which is to be collected, is to be accommodated when the vibration table is reversed. In addition, Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 8-11808 discloses a configuration in which a suction device that draws in components to be aligned through the component accommodating holes of the above-described alignment pallet toward the rear surface of the above-described vibration table is provided as the above-described component holding device.
According to the alignment apparatus (the vibrating parts aligner), a component that remains on the alignment pallet can be effectively collected by causing the remaining component to fall into a component collection pallet, and the time taken for aligning components and the time taken for collecting such a remaining component can be significantly reduced. In addition, maintenance of the aligned state of the aligned components in a state where the vibration table is reversed can be controlled, and thus, automatic transportation of the aligned components can be easily performed by disposing an automatic transportation machine beneath the vibrating parts aligner.
Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 8-11808 describes that components that are positioned in the vicinity of the component accommodating holes of the alignment pallet may be fed into the component accommodating holes by performing vacuum suction through the component accommodating holes in such a manner as to generate a force that draws the components into the component accommodating holes. In this case, for example, as schematically illustrated in FIG. 12, a component 101 that has been moved to the vicinity of a component accommodating hole 102, which is formed in an alignment pallet 103, by the effects of vibration and oscillation is drawn and fed into the component accommodating hole 102 by the effect of suction.
However, for example, as illustrated in FIG. 13, when the vacuum suction is enabled, the component 101 that is present on the alignment pallet 103 in a state of blocking the component accommodating hole 102 of the alignment pallet 103 is held so as to keep the state and fixed onto the component accommodating hole 102 by the vacuum suction, and thus, the component 101 will not be fed into the component accommodating hole 102 during the period when the vacuum suction is enabled.
In addition, the components, which have been held so as to cover the component accommodating holes, are obstacles to the movements of other components on the alignment pallet, so that, although the probability of the other components being fed into the component accommodating holes is high at the beginning of the suction, no components will be fed into the component accommodating holes that are blocked by other components. Thus, even if the period of time in which the vacuum suction is being enabled is extended, the probability of components being fed into component accommodating holes cannot be improved, and on the contrary, there is a problem that the probability is reduced.